


The Hana No Byōki Fic

by Yoongi_Bear



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Death, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 03:29:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12903003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoongi_Bear/pseuds/Yoongi_Bear
Summary: Sorry this took so long. I had writers block, and I'm failing some classes. That's why it's so short. Thanks for all the reads, guys!





	1. Chapter 1

Hana no byōki

 

Flower disease. 

 

It was cold in the room. Unnaturally cold. Keith shivered and pulled the blanket over his shoulders. Shiro's side of the bed was cold, meaning he had already left for work. Keith was alone, and in pain. Several roses had bloomed on his skin a few weeks ago, all of them gathering on his neck. 

 

The Hana no Byōki, or the Flower Disease. The outbreak of the disease had started a few days ago, in Tokyo. Of course a deadly disease would break out when Keith was visiting Shiro in Tokyo. Of course he would be one of the first victims. Of course there was no cure. 

 

Keith sat up, pain shooting thru his neck. The doctors had told him that the mutated flower seeds would grow roots in your skin, and thru your veins. He'd die once they reached his brain or heart. 

 

That was the fourth stage. 

 

He was only in the second stage, when the flowers began to grow and spread. Keith should've had at least two more months to live. However, due to the location and strain of the virus, his was accelerated. He had less than two weeks to live. 

 

Shiro babied him. Shiro was his boyfriend, and an overly caring one at that. He wouldn't let Keith out of the house, and made sure Keith got what he wanted, when he wanted. That would have been all fine and dandy for anyone else, but Keith. He was independent. Keith liked doing things for himself, and often denied Shiro's offers of help. 

 

Keith groaned and stood up, lightheaded from dehydration. That was a symptom of the Hana no Byōki. The doctors had told Keith and Shiro that the flower roots would suck the water out of your blood cells, so if you didn't drink enough water, you would die faster. The short teen reached for his water bottle, taking a long sip. He chucked it on the bed after capping it again, then headed out into the small apartment's living room. 

 

It was a rather small apartment, being that it was smack dab in the middle of Tokyo's city center. Why Shiro chose that location was beyond Keith. Personally, Keith preferred the outdoors. It's peaceful quiet was one of the only things that calmed the teenager.  

 

He sighed and winced as his hair brushed one of the red roses. One of the flowers was located right along his jawline on his right side, so it hurt to talk or eat. 

 

Keith made his way into the kitchen, to find that Shiro had left his favorite Japanese breakfast dish on the table. Ochazuke, a quick meal dish. It combined green tea, steamed rice, and a variety of other various savory ingredients. A small note sat beside it, from Shiro. 

 

 Good morning, my baby boy! I hope you're feeling better. I made you some ochazuke for breakfast. I hope you enjoy! Call me when you want lunch. I was thinking we could go to your favorite sushi bar as a treat. I love you, Keith. Have a good day. I'll be home around five. 

 

        -Shiro

Keith glanced at the clock built into the stove. Ten A.M. He had about seven hours to screw around about the small apartment. 

He always wrote these notes in the morning before he headed off to work. It made Keith feel loved, but it was still a waste of paper. Why not text him?  Keith smiled nonetheless. Shiro really was such a sweetheart. Keith pocketed the note, grabbing the ochazuke and a rice spoon. The tired, pale teenager sat down in the living room, digging into savory green tea flavored rice. He paused only to turn on the TV to watch the news. Twenty more dead from the Hana no Byōki. Go figure. Keith winced as he swallowed. One of the roots of a rose was lodged in a vein right next to his esophagus, making swallowing a battle. It hurt. He hurt. Life hurt. 

 

Truthfully, Keith wished he had stayed in Texas. Maybe, if him and Shiro had kept their relationship long-distance, he wouldn't be suffering like he was now. Although, he'd still have emotional pain from not being with Shiro physically. But was visiting his lover and contracting the Hana no Byōki really worth it? Keith tried to convince himself that it was, that the pain was just part of a chain of coincidences. However, it was hard to believe that. 

     

PING!

 

Keith's phone beeped, and he reached to check the notifications. It was a text from his friend Lance. He hadn't told them about him having contracted the virus yet, and it was eating him up inside. 

 

//Lance the Sea Boi //Hey keith, send us a picture of you. We don't know if you're okay, and it sucks. 

 

Keith sighed. Did he want to send a picture? He didn't want to worry them, but he was fairly sure they already knew about the outbreak. The Japanese government had sent out a worldwide broadcast when the first cases were taken to the CDC. It was mandatory watch, so Keith and Shiro had sat on the couch cuddling while they watched it. When the announcer mentioned the symptoms, a red flower of some form on a part of the body, Keith's hand had flown up to the first small flower on his neck. Tears had filled his eyes, and he gasped. 

 

"Keith? What's wrong?" Shiro rested his head on Keith's. Keith was laying on Shiro, both of them covered in a blanket. 

 

"I...I think I have the Hana no Byōki, Shiro." Keith had started to sob. He was scared, so scared. Scared to die. Scared to leave Shiro. Scared that Shiro would be infected, and die because of him. Shiro's eyes widened, and Keith could feel the other male's pulse quickening. 

 

"Oh my god...No no no no no." Shiro's hand flew to Keith's, holding it tight. "You can't have it." 

 

Keith rolled over, white knuckling Shiro's hand. Shiro's eyes swept over Keith's neck until he found the small rose, and he ran his fingers along it. Keith winced. It stung a bit, like a bee sting or an ant bite. It still hurt nonetheless. 

Visions of himself in the hospital, pale-skinned and hooked up to machines, or his funeral, plagued his mind. "Don't do that. It hurts..." He buried his face into Shiro's chest and sobbed, sadness and fear all mixing into one odd feeling. He didn't want to die. Keith felt helpless, and it was a horrid feeling. 

The older male started crying too, holding Keith close in a hug. 

 

"You'll get thru it, Keith. You'll be okay. Promise." It was an empty promise. You can't heal someone when there was no cure. 

 

Keith sighed and returned to his phone, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. 

 

//SpicyTexanKeef//Fine. Be patient, tho. 

 

He sighed and swept his mullet away from the roses on his neck, and took a quick selfie. His ivory hair looked messy, and his skin was pale, making the blood red flowers stand out even further that they already did. Red lines spread along his skin like a spider web, where the roots were growing in his veins. 

Sighing, Keith hit the send button. Great. Now more people would worry about him. 

 

//GreenPidgeons// Ohmygod 

 

//Lance The Sea Boi// Keith?!

 

//Hunk_ils//You...You were infected?! 

 

Keith sighed and powered off his phone. Let them debate it among themselves. It was his disease, and he didn't need them stressing over him. Keith was just a friend. 

 

He took one more painful bite of the ochazuke before setting it down on the table. He had lost his appetite for the day. Keith couldn't wait to hear his friends calling him, being worried when he didn't respond. Let them worry. It didn't matter. 

 

The teen wiped his mouth. Keith stood, glancing at the window. The sun shone thru the window, a beam of light in a cloud of dark. That was what Shiro was in his life. The sun in the dark. Stars at night, or fireflies at midnight. 

 

It really was nice, being with Shiro. Him and Shiro had met in college, both of them astrophysics majors. Keith had been sick on and off a lot in his second year, so he missed a ton of classes. Most of his astrophysics classes were in the morning. Keith had decided to sleep in most of those mornings, feeling like crap. Being that he missed important classes and Pidge's tutoring wasn't working, she had told Keith to go to the TA. 

 

Shiro was the TA. 

 

When Keith first saw Shiro, his cheeks turned bright red. He was gorgeous! Shiro had a fair, blemish- less complexion, aside from a scar along the bridge of his nose. His hair was a nice ivory color, and a white tuft in the front acted like bangs in the wind. Shiro was resting his head on his hand, until he looked up and met Keith's gaze. Shiro smiled at Keith, and the Korean-Texan felt his cheeks heat even further. 

"Hi, are you-" Shiro looked down at a slip of paper in front of him, most likely his schedule. "Keith Kogane?" 

Shiro's metal arm glinted in the sunlight, catching Keith's curiosity. Was Shiro a war veteran? Shiro never told him where he got the cybernetic arm, and Keith had still wondered about that. 

Keith nodded, words failing him. Alarms went off in his head. Stop. Staring. Keith. "And you are...?"

"Takashi Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro. I'm the astrophysics TA." Shiro set down the paper then turned to Keith, sipping a coffee. 

Keith sat down on the chair closest to the window in the small cafe, feeling more flustered and nervous that he had been before. He watched as the cars passed by behind him, hoping his face would cool soon. He was gay, but it usually took a while for him to develop crushes on people. So why was Shiro getting to him so soon? Maybe it was something about his smile, or the way Shiro's black sweater fit his figure so well. 

"So...You've been having issues with astrophysics? You look nice, by the way." 

Keith turned back to Shiro, his blue-gray, almost violet eyes flitting around the room. Was Shiro... Flirting with him? He stammered, pulling his black leather jacket closer to him. "T-Thank you! You do too!" 

Shiro smiled again. Dang it, why was he so nice! Keith watched as Shiro pulled out his textbook. He set it down on the table, then turned back to Keith, his stare perplexed. "Aren't you going to take out yours?" 

Keith shook his head to clear it of the obviously gay thoughts running thru his mind. "Yeah!"  
The teen dug thru his backpack until he found his iPad, opening it up to the digital textbook. "I like doing things more digitally. I focus better. With paper, I end up doodling during class." Which he did anyways, but Keith wisely decided to keep that to himself. 

Shiro nodded. "I've seen that during class." Keith watched as Shiro flipped thru his textbook to find the right page, mesmerized. It wasn't a large, important movement, but Shiro flipped the pages with such grace and caution. Keith realized he was staring again, and swiped the pages on his tablet until he found the page he was looking for. 

"This may seem complicated but..."

A couple hours later, Keith shut off his tablet and Shiro closed his textbook. "Wow, that made a ton more sense when you explained it," the teenager said in astonishment. 

"I know. I get that a lot. Pidge gets easily exasperated, especially when she has to explain something several times." Shiro smiled and took one last long sip of his coffee. He tossed it in the nearby garbage can, then turning and focusing his gaze on Keith. "Trust me, I know. Her brother is one of my best friends, and I'm one of the only people who's gotten her so mad she ranted in three different languages. One of them binary code." 

Keith laughed. "She's ranted at me in Italian, but not binary! How can people even speak that? It's literally just a series of ons and offs!" 

"Just imagine a ton of zeros and ones. That's pretty much it." Shiro laughed alongside Keith, making Keith's cheeks flush a violent red again. 

The two had chatted and laughed for an hour longer before Shiro switched sides in the booth to sit next to Keith. Keith's heart thudded in his chest as he prayed to every god he could think of that Shiro wouldn't see the blush now spreading across his cheeks. Darn it! He lifted his gaze to match Shiro's, the tension thick enough to cut. His heart fluttered when he saw that Shiro's cheeks were light pink as well. 

"Um...Hello...?" Keith smiled at the ground, fidgeting with his hands. God, he was acting like a lovesick idiot! Get it together, Keith! 

Shiro smiled back. "Hi." 

They sat there in silence, staring at each other. It was kinda cute, but extremely awkward for Keith. This was the exact reason he avoided romantic interests. Awkward moments like these let the fears in his mind run wild. That was not a good thing for him. 

Keith cleared his throat and stood up, growing tired of the silence. Shiro watched him, unable to mask the disappointed expression now plastering his face. *"What runs thru that beautiful mind of his?"* Keith thought as he packed up his stuff. "Hate to ruin the moment, but I seriously have to get back on campus. I have a class in an hour." 

Shiro's gaze followed Keith's every movement, as if he was capturing a picture. Keith had no idea whether to be flattered, embarrassed, or creeped out. Keith met Shiro's eyes and raised an eyebrow. Shiro blushed and waved him off. "Sorry, zoning out. Yeah, I have a class at four anyways. Well, it was nice talking with you." 

Keith frowned. Did that imply they wouldn't talk to each other again? Hopefully not! He nodded and pulled out a slip of paper, scribbling some numbers on it, then sliding it across the table to the other man. Shiro picked it up, confused. "Hasn't anyone given you their number before?"

Shiro seemed to realize what had happened, and he pulled out his phone and made a new contact. Keith didn't have time to screw around, so he waved goodbye and exited the café. 

Keith shook his head to clear it of the depressing flashback. The memory itself wasn't depressing, but thinking about it at this moment was. 

The necklace around his neck jingled as he stood to put away his dishes. Keith stumbled and rested against the wall, the lightheadedness returning with a vengeance. It had grown worse. He should probably drink some water, but walking to go get a glass was a struggle in itself. 

Oh, what he would give for some painkillers and a distraction right now. Keith's head was throbbing, and his throat was dry as the Sahara desert, not to mention the flowers growing in his veins.  
Keith groaned. Why him? Leaning against the wall for support, he slowly made his way into the kitchen. Tossing the plastic bowl and the rice spoon in the sink, Keith managed to grab a glass from the dishwasher. He sat back up, and immediately grabbed the counter for stability. The room seemed to spin, and Keith felt ill. 

He barely made it to the sink before his breakfast came up. 

It stung. Hydrochloric acid wasn't exactly the most fun to have climbing up and out your throat. Keith's chest heaved, and he coughed weakly. Water. He needed water. Now. 

One last feeble cough later, Keith sat up and looked in the sink. Red splotches were mixed with the chewed-up ochazuke, the sight of it making Keith's heart pound. The third stage, where the roots began to pierce the veins and cause internal bleeding. 

Keith panicked for a moment. He was alone, and coughing up blood. Not good, at all. Fear and adrenaline mixed to create a concoction that worked better than caffeine. Keith downed three glasses of water, then cautiously made his way to his phone to call Shiro. 

Keith needed Shiro right now. When the phone rang for a third time, Keith began to panic even more. Shiro always picked up his phone calls ASAP, so it made Keith worry when it rang more than two times. 

When it rang a fifth time, Keith started to cry. Where in God's good grace was the man?! He was always there, especially now that Keith would be dead in less than a month. 

Finally, Shiro's voice came thru the phone. "Hey, Keith! What's up- Are you crying?" 

Keith struggled not to sob. "Can you come home? Like, now?" 

Shiro sounded confused. "Yeah, why?" 

"I-I threw up blood. I'm scared. Please come home." 

Silence. 

More silence. 

"Keith, stay right where you are. I'll be home in ten minutes. Promise." 

Keith nodded and gulped, more hot tears streaking down his cheeks. "T-Thanks." 

"I have to go now. I love you," Shiro sighed thru the phone. 

"I love you too. See you-" Keith coughed, still rattled. "See you soon." 

The phone beeped, showing that Shiro had hung up. Thank God his boss was forgiving toward Shiro's situation. 

Keith leaned back into the couch, feeling the pleasant coolness of the leather. Was it that bad? Would this be a good spot to die? No. Stop. 

Exhaustion took over, and fight as Keith might, his pineal gland got the best of him. The world faded into black, and he let it.


	2. Chapter Two

Shiro rushed home as fast as he could in the Tokyo traffic. Of course the traffic would be overly heavy when his lover needed him. 

After maybe twenty minutes of stop and go traffic, Shiro finally made it to the apartment building. He didn't bother to grab his lunch box or his phone, nor did he lock the car. His thoughts were on Keith, and only Keith. 

Keith. The poor guy, barely past twenty, was already dying. And Shiro could do nothing. 

Shiro swiped his key card into the door, and rushed in. Keith's thick, black hair was just barely visible on the couch, and Shiro could hear Keith's snores. He smiled, just barely. At least Keith was getting some well needed rest. 

Shiro sighed and sat down next to Keith, watching the boy sleep. Not in a creepy way, but a more concerned boyfriend-y way. 

 

"Morning, sunshine." Shiro whispered. Keith smiled and looked Shiro in the eyes. God, those eyes caught him off-guard every time. 

"Morning." Keith yawned and scooted closer to the other man, careful not to brush the flowers on his neck. Shiro felt his forehead with his metal hand. Keith was a little warm, and that concerned Shiro. 

"You're running a fever," Shiro whispered. Keith mumbled something, then coughed. 

"I'm fine. " 

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe you. Earlier you were throwing up blood. Not good."

Keith paused, staying silent. The silence was thick, tension filled. Shiro didn't like that. It always made him feel guilty for something that he had never done. 

"Sorry, Shiro." Keith whispered. 

"Sorry for what? You got sick, that's no reason to be upset." 

"Sorry I ignored your texts yesterday. I don't like people being overly protective, you know that." 

Shiro rolled his eyes. Keith had been upset that Shiro was being so protective over him. What else was Shiro supposed to do, leave Keith to die by himself? May God forgive him if he did! 

"Look, Keith. I get it. And it's fine, trust me. But it's not safe or healthy to keep pushing me away like this! " Shiro internally kicked himself when he heard his own voice start to rise an octave. 

"You don't get it, do you?" Keith said, his violet eyes narrowing an his gaze hardening. Shiro swore Keith could kill a man with his angry glares. "I'm going to die, Shiro. It doesn't matter how much you baby me, I'm still going to die. Might as well just let me die alone, by myself." 

Shiro gulped, fighting back the ball rising in his throat. Keith groaned and stood. "Know what? Just leave me alone. " 

The raven haired teen stormed off to their joint bedroom. "I don't even know why you bothered to come home if your just going to yell at me." He slammed the door, and Shiro could hear the other male hacking his lungs out. Shiro's heart seemed to shatter into thousands of glass shards. 

"Keith, I-" He whispered, knowing all too well it was too late to reason with the stubborn teenager. Hell, he might as well obey Keith. But Shiro still cared for Keith, and he flat out refused to let Keith keep pushing him away like this. 

Maybe, just maybe, Keith would let him help if he tried hard enough. 

Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I had writers block, and I'm failing some classes. That's why it's so short. Thanks for all the reads, guys!


	3. SORRY GUYS *apology note thing*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have some problems I need help with-

Heya guys! It's been a while. I'm sorry, I haven't had ideas for this fic...I've racked my brain and still haven't come up with ideas for chapter 3, and I know the previous chapter sucked because I did it in a rush. What I'm trying to ask in a chill, "I'm totally not up at 3 AM and bored" way, is can you guys give me ideas or tips? I really appreciate constructive critisism. It helps out my writing alot. So give me tips and ideas in the comments! 

 

((Also follow me on the Voltron Amino! I'm Gay Keith In Space #allshirosmatter ! I'm not lonely and desperate for followers ahaha. ..Please help I have like zero self esteem-)) Also I'm working on a short Sheith sick fic oneshot thing? I don't like using the word "one shot" for some reason. It sounds like you have one shot to kill someone?? I have issues?? aaaaNYWAYS Bye guys!!!


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